"Slums' a nice coming-of-age comedy

Published 4:00 am, Friday, August 28, 1998

"Slums of Beverly Hills" when she was participating in a Sundance Directors' Lab. Soon after, Redford's production company, South Fork, was courting her.

Fortunately, Redford's confidence in her talent was justified. Her first feature, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy, is a nicely directed, well-written debut. And it didn't hurt that Jenkins, with the weight of Redford's backing, was able to persuade such pros as Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, Jessica Walter and others to bring her script to life.

Arkin plays Murray Abramowitz, a divorced 65-year-old father of three who despite being a notorious ne'er-do-well, somehow managed to end up with the kids while the ex-wife got the house back east.

It's 1976 and with no visible means of support, Murray, a man with an avowed gambling problem, moves his brood to a series of cramped one-bedrooms in the low-rent outskirts of Beverly Hills. The apartments are short on cleanliness and furniture, places he has no qualms about leaving in the middle of the night without paying the rent. He dedicates himself to all of this maneuvering so the kids can go to the district's good schools. "Furniture is temporary," he tells them. "Education is forever."

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Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) is about to enter high school while coping with the frequent moves, her father's dire financial situation and the sudden emergence of her ample breasts, which - we see first-hand - finally need to be contained by mechanical support. ( "You're a perfect C," the brassiere saleswoman sings to the embarrassed Viv.)

Jenkins captures the difficulty of family dynamics as she documents the interplay between Viv and her self-centered older brother Ben (David Krumholtz) and between Murray and his wealthy brother Mickey (Carl Reiner), who has been supporting Murray and the kids for years mostly, it seems, so he can humiliate Murray in front of his children.

Lyonne displays the right mix of adolescent ennui and shame plus intelligence and talent. Standout performances are also given by Arkin, and by Marisa Tomei, who plays Mickey's drugged-out daughter, Rita.

When Rita escapes her rehab center and heads for Uncle Murray's for solace, Murray negotiates a deal whereby he'll take care of the wayward Rita if Mickey pays for the family to move into better digs.

Jenkins takes the pathos and the sadness and shapes it into appealing comedy. I can't wait for her next movie.